An Accra-based business accelerator, Impact Hub, is seeking to build a vibrant customer experience industry for the small and medium enterprise (SME) market in the country that rivals notable places around the world. Through its partnership with an organisation from the United States, Afriam Network, a four-phased programme is expected to engage teeming young Ghanaians with the right set of tools and techniques to serve the best of customer experience and sales from Ghana.
According to the Co-founder and CEO of Impact Hub Accra (IHA), William Senyo, the results from the pilot programme “have been stellar”. He bemoaned how poorly customer service is treated in Ghana which can be turned around with the right technology, training and obsession for excellence.
For more than a decade, IHA as an institution has been responsive to the community its serves; seizing opportunities as it grows by building the right relationships and partnerships to serve a specific niche. The customer experience programme will culminate into a convening – Inbound – an idea that all growth, customer support, sales people should have an industry gathering where state-of-the-art opportunities are shared, and technology partners sell to them. Think of it as CES for sales and customer support professionals and growth teams.
Some participants of Inbound Accra ’24 sundowner share experiences
Running on the success of the pilot phase which trained some 30 individuals about two years ago, a beta programme is set to launch with 10 to 15 SMEs to join.
“Now, the beta primarily is that… our argument is that some things are better outsourced. There’s a reason there’s a whole global outsourcing business. Google doesn’t do 50% of the things we think Google does, it’s built a value chain of vendor relationships. There’s people sitting in Singapore who are doing billing for Google globally. And so if the biggest giants think outsourcing is the way for optimization, then what is it for small business? For small businesses, you know that that’s the standard.”
The beta programme, which has limited spots available, will focus on two key areas: building a robust customer frontline team and a great customer support system for small businesses. In the course of the programme, a trial run will be held where lessons learnt would lead to a solid product.